Come Fly with Me
Fasten your seatbelts for plenty of turbulence from Matt Lucas & David Walliams in their new series that parodies airline observational documentaries.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Programming, Reviews
“Sit back, fasten your seatbelts, settle in and Come Fly with Me,” a female narrator gently tells us.
But there will be nothing gentle about FlyLo airlines, how could there be in the hands of the outrageous Matt Lucas and David?
In their follow-up series to Little Britain the two UK comedians take on all and sundry in this series that parodies observational documentaries. You know the sort, the el cheapo airlines that allow cameras to exploit them as a way of getting free publicity. It makes for an ideal setting in the hands of Lucas and Walliams.
Like most British comedies, the UK classes are the target here.
Whether its wealthy Arab airline owner Omar Baba or Precious Little, the South African manager of the coffee stand, there are lower class and upper class characters mercilessly ripped to shreds.
Walliams’ appearances include Omar Baba, executive passenger liaison officer Moses Beacon, chief immigration officer Ian Foot, and one of two check-in staff.
Lucas appears as Precious, roving ground crew member Taaj Manzoor, gay air steward Fearghal O’Farrell, and one of two paparazzi photographers (watch out for a star cameo).
92 year old first time passenger Hetty Wolf (Lucas) is a highlight and two Japanese schoolgirls singing a musical tribute to their hero, actor Martin Clune, are a hoot.
Once again both play both genders, with their wicked portrayals assisted by excellent make up and costume.
Unlike their previous series, the setting allows for a uniformity to the comedy, linked together by a terribly dry narrator who sounds like a dead ringer for those in the genre. It is filmed at London’s Stansted Airport while the airport is still functioning. The real-life extras add to the believability.
The series is also less grotesque than Little Britain. There are no gushing urine gags here, no obese women dropping their towels in day spas, although the series will require some minor editing to meet a PG classification. As a result there is less shock value and laughs derived from the political incorrectness of the former series. They’ve gone for clever over crude, but it still works.
There’s plenty of turbulence in Come Fly with Me that reminds us David Walliams and Matt Lucas are two very funny, and frequently very wrong, boys.
Come Fly with Me airs 8pm Monday on Nine.
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- Tagged with Come Fly With Me, Little Britain
36 Responses
I’ve seen an episode – and it was the most unfunny rubbish.
Not that I’m likely to tune in but I don’t think WIN/NBN should hold off showing this, that means they will be behind Nine once again, as it’s not the first time Nine and WIN have parted on show schedules.
So will regional GO! ch88 be airing this at the later time? If so I guess that’s something.
@MattJ Yes, Emma Bunton appears in Episode 1 while Geri makes a cameo in another episode! mirror.co.uk/celebs/tv/2010/12/23/david-walliams-and-matt-lucas-return-with-come-fly-with-me-their-first-series-since-little-britain-115875-22801625/
will give it a chance.There are otherwise too many American Sitcoms out there.if this means one less Big Bang Theory episode on a Monday Night all the better.This may not be a home grown show but it has to be an improvement on those 2.5 men/Mike and Molly type shows before.
Simone and Tasmanian Devil… it’s Emma Bunton and only for 3-4 seconds Haha hilarious and David Schwimmer is hilarious!
I have seen the first episode and love it – but I also loved Airline and Airport. If you have seen those shows, you will see how much they are sending that up brilliantly.
I never really got into Little Britain, but do enjoy the various incarnations of airline docos that every network seems to have now.
I’ll give this a go though because it does look like fun.
David Schwimmer’s guest appearance is a highlight to watch out for.
Heard Geri Halliwell makes a cameo!
I’ll watch it on Go! then uncut, not Nine.
AJ & Matt are on the ball!
According to Media Spy, WIN & NBN have got cold feet on this (or as NBN’s head of programming, Kellie Hampton, succinctly put it, they’ll be taking a “suck it and see” approach) & are instead directing potential viewers to a later Go Channel timeslot. Apparently regional viewers are a sensitive lot & need to be protected from the big bad men of Little Britian? Wouldn’t a simple test-pattern provide more laughs & entertainment than another repeat of The Big Bang Theory? That show was always predictable during first-runs, let alone repeats…
From Nine’s point-of-view, watching WIN & NBN work together on programming decisions must make them wonder why they forked out all that money to buy NBN in the first place. I’m sure the people who worked on Quizmania/The Mint will attest if WIN Corp want something axed from Nine, they’ll get their way in the end.
That said, it seems the erratic programming illness that has infected Nine HQ these last few years has now spread to their regional networks? I’m sure WIN & NBN were just swinging the axe before Nine had the chance? 😉
So far, I haven’t heard anything from the WIN-owned Nine Perth & Adelaide camps, Imparja, or the Nine-owned Darwin station (which is also a regional market).
According to @WINTelevision (twitter) – “[Programming Change] ‘Come Fly With Me’ will not air this Monday on WIN. It can be seen at the later time of 10pm on GO!”
Interesting, to say the least. Maybe they don’t want to risk offending the majority of their audience (the over 65s)?
Bogues: Have watched 2 uncut eps. Ep 2 will require some minor edits. I have noted everywhere these are minor. It’s not a deal breaker that will stop you enjoying the show.
Already got the series and nearly done. Hilarious! Watch people won’t watch the version on Nine. It’ll get axed and then GO will shift the 6eps all over the place!! Didn’t know Nine cared to cut a show to fit in 30mins if all other shows go over time! It’s not like we’re not use to watching the beginning of shows at 8:43pm haha!
I’ve got this one to record, however i’m recording the unedited version on GO! and I encourage everyone to watch it there instead of normal nine. Monday and Wednesday nights are now big viewing nights for me!
Sally Rogers who played sergeant Jo Masters in The Bill also has some cameos in come fly with me as a check in supervisor.
David, why isn’t the show being aired on NBN and Win? It says TBBT instead?
Spot on Clint ! The more entertainment options the better !
On epguides.com it’s listed as a 30 minute program.
Is that 30 minutes of show and then the station could add 10 minutes of ads (normal amount) or are they pruning 10 minutes off in order to show ads and fit it in a 30 minute slot?
This looks terrible. I can’t see it working here, particularly on Nine.
Predictable but quite a good laugh now and again. I am glad it has got a second season approved so they can add a few more characters. Still love Tommy the burger kid best though. 🙂
I’m definately watching that. Looks hilarious.
The South African woman looks like the best character.
Looking forward to this one.
Is your review based on the edited version Nine will show, or the uncut version on GO!? On would thinking that the earlier will be a little less funny to fit in the PG rating slot.
Thanks David. Looking forward to it. Some people say it’s good others bad. I’ll give it a go. Has to be better than some of the US sitcoms doing the rounds.